IVF fertilization improved when men take omega-3’s

This is one of a series of news items from abstracts of studies presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine as complied by Dr. David Meldrum, Scientific Director of Reproductive Partners. We appreciate the enormous amount of work it takes to compile and comment on these abstracts.

A poster presentation showed that omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial in improving the fertilization rate in IVF cycles.

98 couples with unexplained fertilization failure were randomized to 1,000 mg omega-3’s versus no treatment. The fertilization rate was higher (76.5% versus 50.4,%), there were more good quality embryos, and the implantation rate was increased. These results suggest that the prominent role of omega-3 fatty acids in sperm membranes may increase fertilization and that they also may influence sperm DNA (see previous post), therefore influencing embryo quality and implantation. It is not clear whether the female partner was also treated.